Page 1 of Love Bites Hard (Mated to the King #2)

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IZZY

I gripped Clementine’s arm like a lifeline as we walked down the cold, modern hallways of Vamp Manor. Her pale skin was growing pink beneath my touch, and a few strands of her long, wet red hair were trapped under my fingers, but neither of us cared.

I needed to act like I was unfazed by what was about to happen, even if it wasn’t true.

Zora grabbed my other arm. Her collarbone-length, curly brown hair was up in a bun that dripped water onto her tan shoulders as she fell into step with me and Clem. “You can still say no.”

She was right.

I could still say no.

But I wasn’t going to.

As a siren, I was one of the weakest kinds of magical beings that existed. Not that my magic was weak. I was normal.

But siren magic was useless in a fight, only serving to pull people in and make them feel good when I tapped into it.

Which meant I was in danger.

Constantly.

My four sisters were in the same boat, too.

The best way to protect yourself as a siren was to take a strong mate. My sister Blair had done exactly that, though she’d done it to keep all of us safe. The vampire king she’d mated with would protect us—but not from everything.

There was a wolf shifter after Clementine, and the only way to get rid of him for good was to have another wolf rip his throat out.

Hence my upcoming nuptials with a stronger wolf.

Starting a mate bond with the wolf was my decision. And it wasn’t one I was going back on.

Technically, my sisters and I could’ve just stayed with the vampires forever, but we would’ve spent the rest of our lives in danger. Trapped in Vamp Manor.

While some of my sisters loved the vampires, I wasn’t the biggest fan. They were fine, but something about blood drinking gave me the creeps.

Maybe it was the teeth.

Or the biting.

Or feeding on people.

Considering sirens drank emotions by kissing, I was a total hypocrite. But it was what it was.

And I was ready to get some space from the vampires.

Mating with a wolf shifter definitely wasn’t the smartest way to escape from the vamps. But it was the only way that would ensure both my safety and my sisters’, so it seemed like a win-win situation.

Minus the mate bond part.

But there were worse things than being mated to a hot werewolf dude, weren’t there?

I was going with yes.

Anyway, the agreement was simple:

I would seal a mate bond with Porter Jenkins.

Then, he would challenge the alpha werewolf who was trying to take my sister. Curtis was his name.

After Porter killed Curtis, we’d live happily ever after.

Or at least, we would live .

Together, potentially?

I wasn’t quite sure what came after the killing part.

But Porter would be the new wolf king, AKA alpha. He wanted my magic’s help to get him out of the funk he’d been in since he lost his family.

So, the living part would happen, and that was what mattered.

“Should we put clothes on before we do this?” Avery, another one of my sisters, murmured. She had olive skin, and her dark brown hair was tied up at the base of her neck, dripping just as much as the rest of ours.

We’d just gotten out of the pool, so all of us were wearing our bikinis. Blair, my only mated sister, had her mate’s button-up shirt on over her swimsuit. Her skin was light and her hair golden, falling down to the middle of her back in tangled, wet waves.

Sirens loved water. Swimsuits were worn frequently, but something to put on over the top of them rarely crossed our minds. Which meant I was meeting my mate in nothing but my sporty black bikini.

“Nah. Maybe if I let Porter see the goods, he’ll have more of a reason to get through his fight with Curtis,” I said, adjusting the straps of my suit so more of my boobs were on display. My skin was light brown, and my naturally platinum-blonde hair was even more of a tangled mess than Blair’s.

“You’re literally insane,” Blair grumbled, her hand locked with Hale’s. That was a mate perk I guess, though I didn’t think I’d ever be able to hold someone’s hand like she was without feeling ridiculous.

Her mate was gorgeous. Damian Hale was a gigantic vampire with light skin and messy, dark hair. All magical men were big, but he took it to the next level.

“Says the woman who mated with the vampire king to save all of our asses in the first place,” I drawled.

“But our asses are saved , aren’t they?” she pointed out. “You’re sacrificing yourself for no reason.”

“You saved us. I’m freeing us.”

Really, I was freeing myself.

It was selfish, but I couldn’t stay trapped inside Vamp Manor for another day.

So many predators.

So many teeth.

“The wolves have even more teeth,” Zora pointed out.

I must’ve said that last bit aloud.

“They don’t bite people as often,” I said.

We were nearly to Hale’s office, where Porter was waiting.

My stomach was so tight, the damn thing may as well have been a rock.

“Wolves still bite their mates,” Hale remarked.

Before I could ask him what he meant, or even really process his words, the door in front of us opened and a man stepped out.

My attention went straight to him.

He was already staring at me.

And somehow, he was just as big as Hale.

His skin was tan, his wavy reddish-brown hair an utter catastrophe. It was shaved on the sides, which I liked, but I could see the point of a leaf sticking out of the top part. His hair was so thick, I could imagine he hadn’t even realized the leaf was there.

He was stunning, but in a completely different way than Hale was.

Where Hale was put-together, Porter was wild.

Untamed.

Absolutely, entirely unpolished.

His black sweats and gray t-shirt were wrinkled, and I could see a streak of dirt on one of his shoulders.

Even without talking to him, I could tell the man was nothing like the vampires.

And that alone made me want to walk right into his stupidly gigantic arms.

“We should’ve split up so he didn’t see all of us,” Avery murmured.

“Whoops,” Clementine whispered back.

“If he’s mating with me, he’s going to be around you guys sometimes,” I said to them, still unable to look away from the giant in the doorway of Hale’s office.

Maybe it was my pride, but I wanted him to know he was mating with me . I didn’t want him checking out one of my sisters, or wishing he’d gotten paired with someone else.

“He’ll keep the secret,” Hale agreed.

“It’s not a secret. Curtis has told everyone how many sirens you’re hiding, even if you refuse to admit it to the other kings,” Porter said, his voice deeper and much more gravelly than I could remember from the phone call I’d listened to between him and Hale.

“He’ll play along,” Blair corrected.

Porter’s eyes didn’t leave me, but he nodded once.

“Should we make this into a ceremony or something?” Clementine joked, as we finally stopped in front of him.

“No,” Porter said flatly. “I’m going to talk to my mate alone.”

With that, he grabbed me by the waist and tugged me into the office, shutting and locking the door behind me.

My back was pinned to it a moment later, with who-knew-how-many pounds of delicious male muscle less than a breath away from me. The man towered over me, and my toes curled immediately.

The rough and tumble thing?

It worked for me.

Really, really worked for me.

“Let me feel your magic,” he said.

It wasn’t a command, exactly, but he didn’t make it sound optional.

“You can’t order me around. You’re not my alpha,” I shot back, irritated by his immediate need to take control.

“If you want me to challenge the alpha of Mistwood, you’re going to have to let me feel your magic to prove what you are before I mate with you,” he growled.

I huffed… but it was a fair point.

And though I could’ve just pushed my magic out at him, I didn’t want to give him exactly what he wanted.

I wanted to prove that I wasn’t going to be a pushover.

So I grabbed his face, pulling him toward me as I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him.

Porter’s mouth was soft against mine, despite the roughness of his appearance. He grabbed my waist as I pulled his emotions into me, and he parted his lips on a sharp inhale at the feel of my power.

My tongue dragged against his lightly, and he launched into action, kissing me hard and fast.

Desperately.

Like I was the air he needed to breathe.

And the man was delicious .

Shallow feelings were like junk food for a siren—fun, but not filling.

Deeper, more intense emotions?

They were homemade bread. Pot roast. Steak and potatoes.

The bigger meals that we craved and needed.

And Porter?

He was a buffet.

A siren’s wet dream.

Pain.

Hatred.

Sadness.

Despair.

Agony.

Emptiness.

The tiniest flicker of hope.

He pushed me away suddenly, and my back thudded against the door as his mouth was ripped away from mine.

My chest rose and fell quickly. My lips tingled from the brutality of our kiss, and my blood pumped hard with the immensity of the emotions I’d taken from him.

“Don’t ever feed from me without permission,” he snarled, though it didn’t hold nearly as much heat as the growl he’d given me before I kissed him.

He was scrambling for his anger, trying to rebuild the dam over his intense emotions before anything else slid free.

“What happened to you?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

“I’m not looking for a therapist.” He stepped closer, wrapping his hand around my throat. My heart beat against his fingers, and he froze for a moment, feeling the rapid thud.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

“You shouldn’t mate with a siren if you’re not ready to work through your emotions,” I said honestly. “I’m going to have to feed on you twice a week to stay strong.”

His lips twisted in a snarl, but it was halfhearted. And finally, he said the magic words that would start a mate bond between us. “You are mine.”

“You don’t even know my name,” I breathed, as the binding magic rolled through my body, warming and electrifying me all at once.

Shit , I hoped he pictured something pretty. The mate bond’s magic naturally resembled a thick bar around both parties’ necks unless they crafted something better in their mind. Call me shallow, but I wanted something nice around my throat for all of eternity.

It was too late for that, though.

“I don’t need to know your name,” he said, not yet releasing his hold on me.

“You’re an asshole.” I grabbed him by the throat too, digging my nails in just enough to make his eyes narrow. “If you didn’t make the mark on my throat look nice, you’re in for a lifetime of blue balls.”

“This isn’t about sex.”

“I didn’t say it was. But you are mine, too.”

The magic of our shiny new mate bond becoming permanent sent tingles through my body.

I focused on giving him a mark that matched mine, whatever the hell it looked like, and watched closely as a delicate, looping band wrapped around his throat.

The tension in my shoulders eased as it did.

At least he wasn’t a total bastard.

“And if you don’t want me screwing someone else, there will be sex,” I said, digging my nails in a little deeper before I finally released him and stepped away from the door. My chest met his, and he growled at me again.

I opened the door behind me and walked back through, trying hard to fight whatever the intense emotions pounding through me were. “Now, we have an alpha challenge to get to.”